Monday 21 November 2011

Apologies to the Barnet Council Standards sub Committee

Sometimes we all make mistakes. It is human nature. What matters is how we rectify them. I was contacted by a friendly voice today  regarding a blog concerning a Barnet Council Standards Sub Committee meeting on Tuesday. I had assumed that the meeting was to determine what action to take regarding a standards issue before the committee. I was today advised that this is not actually the case. The meeting is a consideration meeting. As I understand it (and I may be wrong), the purpose of this meeting is to ensure that the investigation phase of the process is completed and that all required submissions etc have been gathered. The committee will set the timetable for a full hearing.

It was suggested to me that the blog posted here yesterday was helpful to no one in this process. I was assured that all appropriate paperwork would be published at the appropriate time (as has been done for the complaint against Councillor Tambourides) and that the committee have no intention of treating the matter with anything other than full attention it deserves. The Barnet Eye is happy to fully accept these assurances. It was suggested that for this purposes of this purely procedural meeting, removing the misleading blog and apologising to the standards sub committee was the appropriate response. The Barnet Eye of course agrees that anything which makes the job of the Standards Committee is unacceptable.

As such, The Barnet Eye unreservedly apologises to the Barnet Council Sub Committee for any inconvenience caused. We look forward to learning of the results of the consideration meeting in due course and seeing the full set of paperwork reviewed at the appropriate time. The Barnet Eye further wishes readers to know that the relevant blogs were not removed following any communications with Barnet Council, or anyone else acting on behalf of Barnet Council. We were purely acting on the advice of a good friend of this blog.

Roger Tichborne
The Barnet Eye